One of
Americana's favored sons proves why, with all the frills of a torn leather
jacket. If you're not into Duane Jarvis yet, it's time. If you're already
a fan, might as well pull your wallet out.

DJ rocks
East Nashville style, the wrong side of the river, and it was there that
my friend Jude and I bumped into him at 1 a.m. on her birthday, last night
at The Family Wash. (Right, it's a laundromat turned into a pub chic eatery
and music den.) Yeah, I got one in the car, he said.

I got
good and blue the next and rainy day, and that really helped me to get
inside the deep and hypnotic quality of DJ's deceptively straight ahead
and very sparsely produced record. Duane paired up with George Marinelli
at his Wing Ding Studios, good things happen there. The co-producer is
a mighty instrumentalist, but added only a few crucial flourishes. His
Wurlitzer track on "Beyond Beautiful" and the Keith Richards style electric
guitar on the title track certainly helped stand them out as my two clear
favorites, although the surprisingly Leonard Cohen-esque co-write with
Chuck Prophet, "Spread My Soul Too Thin," is also fabulous.

DJ's brand
of alt-country draws from many quarters. Country Blues or even folk on
some numbers, his punk tenure with The Divinyls surfaces on others, plenty
of old Country and Blues ghosts walk through the lyrics and grooves of
the eleven songs. All but one were co-written by the artist with a host
of greats that include Tim Carroll and Tim Krekel, Chuck Prophet, George
Marinelli and others.

The Duane
Jarvis journey so far centers around the scenes of Portland, Los Angeles,
and East Nashville. He counts a long list of luminaries among his friends
and supporters, and has gigged or recorded with Lucinda Williams, The
Divinyls, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, Giant Sand, and Dave Alvin, to name
a famous few. Along with appearing in several major motion pictures, his
songs have been recorded by Lucinda Williams, Peter Case, Pinmonkey, Amy
Rigby, Greg Trooper, Rosie Flores, and many other great artists.